Japan pledged Monday to contribute 800 million yen to a United Nations agency to purchase flour for Palestinian refugees, the Foreign Ministry said.
Japan and the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) exchanged notes to this end in Amman, the ministry said.
The aid is a humanitarian gesture to assist Palestinian refugees forced to live in poverty, partly because of an economic blockade imposed on the Palestinian Authority by Israel, according to the ministry.
The blockade was enforced following an outbreak of violence between Israeli security forces and Palestinians in September, which dealt a severe blow to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
UNRWA requested the contribution in an effort to alleviate serious food shortages in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, the ministry said.
Tokyo has been providing food aid through UNRWA since 1970.